As a rising junior, I have learned a lot about the quality of education in America. We have one of the best educational systems in the world, but some of the poorest grade standards. Our education is highly valued, but few truly understand the concept of learning. A lot of us think high school is just the road to getting into college, but that is the wrong way to think of it. College is meaningless if you never learned anything on your way there.

You're always going be learning as you move through life, but the most important learning probably won't occur at school. Few of my cherished traits or thoughts have been inspired directly by school, but I have had some great memories from being there. The point of school shouldn't be mainly just memorizing meaningless facts so that you can pass a test. School is more important for teaching us how to work with other people and apply what we learn from life. It's more about the people you meet, rather than the facts you learn.

Even so, I strongly believe that there is one important aspect of school that can have a major impact on what a student gets out of the class: the teacher. I've had some great teachers, and some really bad ones --teachers that have taught me a lot, and some teachers that have taught me nothing. But with all my years in school, I have seen some amazing teachers that I think should be recognized since they have really taught me the important concepts and behaviors I'll use for life.

I think what makes a good teacher is determination. It's easy for a teacher to just give out assignments, but the really special ones are the people that actually care. A teacher that will go the extra mile really earns a lot of respect from the class. It's one thing for somebody to assign projects and homework without even discussing the material. It takes the experience to another level when students are asked to analyze the material given, are encouraged to argue over the issues and to dive in depth to discuss the issues presented in class.

While I quickly lose interest in classes based mostly on memorization, I actually love the time in school where I am getting educated. Learning is really interesting when it's topics you care about, but I think that too much attention is paid to grading. I love the teachers for purely teaching, but I hate the fact that they have to assign grades that decide our future. The teachers have impacted my life didn't give me the best grades. I did average in a lot of my favorite teachers' classes. But I loved the class not because of my grades, but because of the knowledge gained.

I had a teacher whose grading policy I really disliked. The way he graded our work just didn't make sense to me. I got C's and some B's in his class, and ended up doing pretty average. Although I didn't do outstanding in the classwork itself, that subject ended up being my favorite. I loved the class, primarily because of the teacher. He actually challenged you, and made you realize how you related to the topics being discussed. I actually learned a lot from this guy, instead of just repeating facts from a text book. This teacher was probably my all-time favorite teacher. He went the extra mile just to get us to learn. He would relate current issues to the topic, and encourage argument about the issues from all points of view. He made school an actual learning experience, instead of a prison.

For a teacher to be absolutely perfect, they have to be fun, but stay on the subject matter. A teacher who lets you mess around the whole class is great, but at the end of the day, they aren't really teaching. Don't get me wrong, I love occasionally having down time during class and filling it with senseless games and talking, but if the class always operates that way, you really are not learning anything.

I think that the classes in high school should all be electives, to get the maximum amount of learning time for subjects that catch your interest. A required class is pretty much a waste of time because its only going to teach you so much since you are really just there to learn basic facts. If you don't want to learn it, you're not going to. It's that simple.

Nick Jury is a rising junior at Mt. Hebron High School. You can e-mail him at cdumler@theviewnewspapers.com.

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